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50 years ago Martin Luther King delivered a brilliant moment in human history by his legendary speech/request/dream to end racism. I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.' I have a dream.... 50 years have passed since that moment. Since than, "we” learned a lot and "we" had and still have great technical innovations but, I think not enough as untill today.......I still have a dream!  SIlver-Studded Blue
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Long time ago Marilyn Monroe was singing that diamonds are the girls best friend and I think that she was right.......every female creature needs her own bling bling: 
By coincidence my yesterdays appointment was cancelled so together with the same friend I returned to the butterfly paradise in Belgium which I mentioned in my former blog. At arrival we found some resting butterflies; for camouflage they prefer brown stalks or flower buds.
In a week time nature can change significant! Instead of 50 Small Pearl-bordered fritillaries, I found 50 Wasp Spiders and the reason why only 20 fritillaries were left. Also most of the flowers were wilted or in the proces of getting brown. Next to the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries also some Queen of Spain Fritillaries were left: 
After a while we had to give up as the wind was too strong. I'm really looking forward to visit this place again in 2014 and to search for the first generation of the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary!
Last Saturday, together with a friend, I travelled to the High Fens in Belgium with the purpose to photograph the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. We arrived before sunrise and with a beautiful red sun in mind we started our tour. It was very windy and the temperature was not really pleasant but the worst thing were hundreds of tiny little biting flies and the fact that we couldn’t find one single fritillary. Although not much hope was left, we decided to drive to the second spot in Belgium. It was not easy to find but as soon as we entered the area a flying Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary welcomed us.  We were arrived in butterfly paradise! The sun was shining and orange butterflies everywhere. After a while I discovered a path in the brambles and on the other side again a small area appeared with a lot of flowering yellow violets (larval foodplants of the fritillaries) and other rare flowers. The sun disappeared behind the clouds and for hours it was perfect weather as the butterflies became lazy or started resting on a flowers without moving.
Normally it is not easy to find a butterfly on a perfect location, not that day. Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries everywhere!  We counted at least 50 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, some Queen of Spain Fritillaries and a lot of other butterfly species like Marbled White, Clouded Yellow, Common Blue, Chalk-hill Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, Small Heath and Small Copper. Also some snakes, foxes and beautiful birds are living there.
It was really a gift being there and I can't wait to visit this area again! In life you ‘need’ to have experienced everything once.......so a few days ago somebody scammed me! First I was upset as this Dutch guy was talking about ‘trust’ to me on the phone and I lost money for a new camera. Soon I learned that he is a professional impostor who is using hundreds of Dutch names and email addresses so I got triggered by his method and till today I found hundreds of crime reports......he has a splendid income every year! And I feel very very very sorry for him that he is deaf and that his wife is labouring that often...... As I’m very persistent Mr Cheater, the day will come that you will regret having scammed me....kiss my ass!  This blue horn is taken with the MP-E 65 mm and belongs to a caterpillar of the Lime Hawk-moth.
Yesterday I found out that the Spanish word for butterflies is mariposas.......what a beautiful and tender word for ‘my’ beloved insects! More than 20 years ago I visited Spain a few times but for other purposes than mariposas. Since weeks we have summer temperatures in the Netherlands and fortunately the summer species are doing well at the moment. Yesterday we reached 35,5 °C! The only bad thing is that the nights and early mornings are too warm and dewless; the butterflies are active very early and it’s almost impossible to photograph them. So, the last days I photographed some species at day. A large amount of Gatekeepers is ‘populating’ my direct surrounding; too much to count! The Gatekeeper is a very active, more nervous, butterfly so sometimes I wonder who ever came up with the name Gatekeeper? This Gatekeeper flew away from me (I think I’m scary) very early but happily to a place where the first sun lighted up the background beautiful.  Two days ago I suddenly noticed a lot of yellow butterflies on Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). More than 10 hungry Brimstones were visiting this plant and I tried to photograph this butterflies with open wings at flight (they never rest or sit down with open wings). To catch them flying and to get a decent photo was very difficult. It was very windy and the flowers were moving too much; despite a quicker shutter time I did not get the photo which I had in mind. I also noticed that the background of most of the photos is terrible so I have plans for a new Lythrum location.  Yesterday evening I had a nice visitor; a Small Tortoiseshell (talking about names........). In the Netherlands a very common butterfly but in my direct area a rare guest.  Mariposas are lovely and I'm curious what the next days will bring!
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Jibt dir dit Leben mal een Buff, denn weene keene Träne. Lach Dir'n Ast und setz Dir druff und baumle mit de Beene.
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